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Since 2007, LA-based photographer Siri Kaur has been driving 480 miles to the Kitt Peak National Observatory four or five times per year to capture the sky on her film camera. 7,000 feet above the ground, the observatory boasts telescopes the size of houses and Kaur takes long exposure photographs of the view from these super telescopes. Sometimes she returns with no good pictures, but those times are all made worth it when she gets shots like the ones shown below. She alters the color and depth of the star formations in the darkroom with chemicals, producing new images that look just like some of the “real” pictures of distant galaxies taken by NASA’s Hubble Telescope.

I’m going back to basics, back to the sheer joy of playing with color and line on paper, of drawing with light. This project re-engages with one of the simplest and most basic purposes of photography: to show us what would otherwise remain unseen. I’m using science and technology to show my particular romantic view of the medium of photography, where the failure and power of the medium cohere in material form.

Kaur’s Half of Whole collection was just on display at Cohen Gallery in an exhibit called Falling From Great Heights with 2 other artists. See more stunning fine art space photography on Kaur’s website.